Russia Invades Ukraine

[Dave from down under]

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/06/ ... olt-a81620

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday spoke to his Belarus ally, President Alexander Lukashenko, in his first international phone call since a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries inside Russia began.

"The president of Russia called the president of Belarus this morning, there was a phone conversation," Belarusian state media reported.

"Vladimir Putin informed his Belarusian colleague about the situation in Russia."

Lukashenko, who allowed Russian troops to use Belarusian territory as a launchpad for their Ukraine offensive, has remained Putin's closest ally.

The Kremlin later said Putin also spoke to the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and the president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

"The president informed them about the situation [in Russia]," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by state news agencies.

According to Kazakh media, Tokayev told Putin that events in Russia were a "domestic affair," and Putin thanked him for his "understanding" of the situation.

Putin, who has few allies on the international stage after invading Ukraine last year, has called the Wagner mutiny a "stab in the back."

[Slim Cognito]

He should have called it a push out the window.

[Maybenaut]

It’s not a MG position in the photo it is an AGL.

Also.. trust Elon

Ya gotta remember Elon sleeps with a toy gun.

► Show Spoiler

You'd think a guy that wealthy could hire a housekeeper to wipe the rings off of that nightstand.

[Kendra]

Wow. Just waking up and trying to wrap my head around this, but when you turn on CNN on a Saturday morning and they've dragged Wolf Blitzer off whatever trip he was on and he's anchoring from London, that sounds like a big effing deal...

[bill_g]

There go gas prices ... again.

[Suranis]

[AndyinPA]

There is no one who would be better for Russia than Putin to take over if he falls out a window. They are all at the very least Putin-lites.

[Serve & Volley]

So that's where Trump hid the rest of his documents

[neeneko]

There is no one who would be better for Russia than Putin to take over if he falls out a window. They are all at the very least Putin-lites.

I think one of the things that make Prigozhin scary is, while he could be seen as another 'Putin lite', unlike all the other possible replacements, he isn't ex-KGB or part of that worldview. If one of the others survivors of Putin's political purges took over you would probably see a simple continuation of policy since they all the same background. Prigozhin? How he would handle things is a bit less certain.

[RTH10260]

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1672594668318490624

tsk tsk tsk --- only money? Now if there would have been boxes of Top Secret documents .....

[June bug]

Ya, there's nothing but gibberish coming out of Russia at the moment. Don't believe a word of it.

Its possible they might be trying to goad the Ukrainians into attacking before they are ready but pretending to have a slapfight. By pretending to be fighting one another when they are really dug in they could cause heavy casualties.

Given the just reported brokered deal this post, and Reddog’s right below it, may have been prophetic.

[neeneko]

Given the just reported brokered deal this post, and Reddog’s right below it, may have been prophetic.

I'll be curious to hear what this 'deal is'.

While I could see it all being theatrics to get Ukraine to attack before it is ready, I could also see it being theatrics to deal with the recent call by the military to absorb all the PMCs under its own command. That was a serious escalation that needed some kind of response.

[Reddog]

I guess I’ve become leery of premature schadenfreude. Maybe more weltschmerz.
Interesting that reporting that Lukaschensko flew to Turkey, and part of the deal is Prigozhin will move to Belarus. With no penalties.

[RVInit]

[RTH10260]

Wagner Group shot down 6 Russian helicopters and a plane during its mini rebellion, Ukraine says, weakening Putin's air force at a time when it could prove critical

Mia Jankowicz
Updated Mon, June 26, 2023 at 5:02 PM GMT+2

Wagner forces destroyed six Russian helicopters and a plane amid its short rebellion, Ukraine says.

It weakened Putin's air forces, though Russia is said to be attacking as before in Ukraine.

Nonetheless, chaos like this gives Ukraine a "window of opportunity," a defense official said.

Wagner Group forces took out six Russian helicopters and another aircraft during Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived rebellion, Ukrainian officials said Sunday, in a development that could hand Ukraine a defensive edge in the fighting.

According to The Kyiv Independent, Yurii Ihnat, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson, emphasized the benefit to Ukraine, saying: "Mi-8 transport helicopters are powerful hardware that really helps the Russian army in its war against Ukraine."

Reports differ on the exact specifications of the destroyed aircraft. Ihnat has said that Wagner took out two attack helicopters and four transport aircraft, while pro-Kremlin military bloggers were cited by The Kyiv Independent as saying three of them were electronic-warfare helicopters.

The open-source weapons tracker site Oryx, whose helicopter tally matches that of the cited military bloggers, said it had documented evidence of the following Russian losses: a Mi-35 attack helicopter, a Ka-52 attack helicopter, three Mi-8 electronic-warfare helicopters, one Mi-8 transport, and an Il-22M airborne command post.

It added that Prigozhin had captured a Russian MRAP patrol vehicle and a Tigr-M infantry mobility vehicle.

Oryx said that Prigozhin had lost two trucks, two technical vehicles, and an infantry mobility vehicle to the Russian army proper.




https://www.yahoo.com/news/wagner-group ... 28071.html
(original: Business Insider)

[John Thomas8]

[Phoenix520]

This is pretty big news.

Brussels, Belgium – China’s envoy to the European Union has suggested that Beijing could back Ukraine’s aims of reclaiming its 1991 territorial integrity, which includes Crimea – the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera and two other media outlets, when Fu Cong was asked about supporting Kyiv’s goals, which includes reclaiming other Ukrainian regions now occupied by Russia, the senior Chinese diplomat said: “I don’t see why not.

https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/ukraine-russia-crisis/

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-28/ ... /102532604

The founder of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has arrived in Belarus and is welcome to stay "for some time", President Alexander Lukashenko says.

Key points:

Yevgeny Prigozhin has been given safe haven in Belarus, after the Wagner Group leader abandoned a march on Moscow over the weekend
The arrangement was part of a deal mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
Vladimir Putin praised Russian unity in the face of the crisis, in what experts noted was likely an effort to retain Wagner troops for the war in Ukraine
The report of Mr Prigozhin's whereabouts came on Tuesday, as Russian authorities said they had closed a criminal investigation into the aborted armed rebellion led by the mercenary chief, and were pressing no charges against him or his troops.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said its investigation found that those involved in the mutiny, which lasted less than 24 hours after Mr Prigozhin began marching his Wagner Group forces towards Moscow on Friday, "ceased activities directed at committing the crime", so the case would not be pursued.

It was the latest twist in a series of stunning events that brought the gravest threat so far to President Vladimir Putin's grip on power amid the 16-month-old war in Ukraine.

Over the weekend, the Kremlin pledged not to prosecute Mr Prigozhin and his fighters after he stopped the revolt on Saturday, even though Mr Putin had branded them traitors and authorities rushed to fortify Moscow's defences as the mutineers approached the capital.

The charge of mounting an armed mutiny is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Mr Prigozhin escaping prosecution poses a stark contrast to how the Kremlin has treated those staging anti-government protests in Russia, where many opposition figures have received long sentences in notoriously harsh penal colonies.

Lukashenko says Belarus would not mind Wagner-like unit

Mr Lukashenko, a close Putin ally who brokered the deal with Mr Prigozhin to stop the uprising, said the mercenary leader and some of his troops were welcome in his country provided they stayed at their own expense.

"We offered them one of the abandoned military bases. Please — we have a fence, we have everything — put up your tents," Mr Lukashenko said.

He added that his defence minister, Viktor Khrennikov, had told him he would not mind having a unit like Wagner in the Belarusian army, and he had instructed Mr Khrennikov to negotiate with Mr Prigozhin on the matter.

[northland10]

This is pretty big news.

Brussels, Belgium – China’s envoy to the European Union has suggested that Beijing could back Ukraine’s aims of reclaiming its 1991 territorial integrity, which includes Crimea – the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera and two other media outlets, when Fu Cong was asked about supporting Kyiv’s goals, which includes reclaiming other Ukrainian regions now occupied by Russia, the senior Chinese diplomat said: “I don’t see why not.

https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/ukraine-russia-crisis/

Having read it, it is not entirely clear where they really are, which I would expect from the rather flexible Chinese government. If they think the Ukraine war will not help weaken the west's resolve or cohesiveness, they might toss up some trial balloons to see what they can get from the EU or Russia.

Maybe some triangular diplomacy at play.

[Dave from down under]

IIRC China’s envoy to the European Union has been used to float positions that are not subsequently the official position of Bejing.

[keith]

This is pretty big news.

Brussels, Belgium – China’s envoy to the European Union has suggested that Beijing could back Ukraine’s aims of reclaiming its 1991 territorial integrity, which includes Crimea – the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera and two other media outlets, when Fu Cong was asked about supporting Kyiv’s goals, which includes reclaiming other Ukrainian regions now occupied by Russia, the senior Chinese diplomat said: “I don’t see why not.

https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/ukraine-russia-crisis/

Of course Ukraine = Taiwan?

[Phoenix520]

The first article I read about this from Al Jazeera was dated March 22(?) 2022. It said they would reserve judgement, basically, until they could tell how it would end. I guess they can tell now.

[Sam the Centipede]

Of course Ukraine = Taiwan?

Of course the struggle in Ukraine will inform China's assessments of possible armed disputes with Taiwan.

But as an analogy, doesn't Ukraine with our without Crimea world in either direction?

Reunite Crimea with Ukraine is reuniting a lost/stolen part of a country with it's proper parent.

But reuniting Ukraine with Russia can be viewed similarly. And also fits a might=right mindset.

Irredentist viewpoints inevitably focus on and fetishize the situation at a period in history when borders matched what they desire now. For example, Moscow wishes to be the hub of a revived Russian Empire as of two or three centuries ago, but looking further back Kyiv was a thriving metropolis and seat of government when Moscow was a tatty market town.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... r-AA1d8cW1?

U.S. sanctions gold companies for funding Wagner forces in Ukraine, Africa

The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned four companies and one individual for gold-funding the Wagner Group, which led a short-lived rebellion over the weekend against Russia's leadership and has committed "widespread human rights abuses."

The sanctions were filed Tuesday by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against Midas Resources mining company, Diamville diamond trading company, Dubai-based Industrial Resources General Trading, Limited Liability Company DM and Audrey Nikolayevish Ivanov, a Russian national and executive in the Wagner Group.

All of those sanctioned were accused of engaging in "illicit gold dealings to fund the Wagner Group to sustain and expand its armed forces, including in Ukraine and Africa," the Treasury Department said in a statement, adding that the "individual has been central to activities of Wagner Group units in Mali."

"Treasury's sanctions disrupt key actors in the Wagner Group's financial network and international structure," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

"The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali. The United States will continue to target the Wagner Group's revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa, Ukraine and anywhere else."

"Treasury's sanctions disrupt key actors in the Wagner Group's financial network and international structure," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

"The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali. The United States will continue to target the Wagner Group's revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa, Ukraine and anywhere else."

Those sanctioned Tuesday will have their properties within the United States blocked and will be prevented by the OFAC from completing any new transactions in the United States.

In addition to the sanctions, the Departments of the Treasury, State, Labor, Commerce and Homeland Security, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, issued a new advisory Tuesday, warning about investment in the gold sector across sub-Saharan Africa.

"Without adequate due diligence and appropriate mitigating measures, an industry participant may inadvertently contribute to one or more of these risks, including conflict and terror financing, money laundering activities, sanctions evasion, human rights and labor rights abuses and environmental degradation," the advisory from the departments said.

According to the Treasury Department, the Wagner Group "has committed widespread human rights abuses and has appropriated natural resources across multiple countries in Africa."

The Wagner Group, which is a proxy military force of the Kremlin, has "carried out combat operations around the world, including Russia's brutal war in Ukraine. Wagner has also participated in a scheme to procure weapons for its operations in Ukraine, using false end-use certificates in Mali," the Treasury Department added.

[RTH10260]

Four children among 11 killed in missile strike on Ukraine pizza restaurant
At least 56 people injured when Russian rocket hit packed restaurant in eastern city of Kramatorsk

Luke Harding in Kyiv and Lorenzo Tondo in Kharkiv
Wed 28 Jun 2023 17.21 BST

Four children were among 11 people killed in a devastating Russian rocket attack on a packed pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Ukraine’s state emergency service said at least 56 people were injured, some critically, when two Iskander missiles slammed into the cafe in the city centre on Tuesday evening, when it was full of diners. The restaurant is popular with civilians and international journalists.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... kramatorsk